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Does anyone do once a month shopping to save?

5K views 35 replies 26 participants last post by  Scattymum 
#1 ·
Dh and I have been discussing ways to drastically cut spending this next year and one area we can improve on is grocery. I was thinking about once a month shopping. Has anyone tried this? I know we lose alot of money by stopping in the store for this and that a few times a week. I am planning a menu and going to make a list from there. Not sure if I should try every 2 weeks at first or just dive in......
 
#2 ·
So, I was thinking the same thing. Really trying to stretch what I have and only shop in one month. However, if that is a normal thing... meaning shopping once per month, I might miss the sales to stockpile what I normally use.

So, I question it a little bit. Do you stockpile? are you building a stockpile? I think if you are going once per month - surely you are paying full price for your groceries. Do you want to do that?

If your grocery store is far and the gas is a lot to get there, then once per month may be justified.

I personally, live close to the grocery store, so I check the sales weekly and go once every other week if nothing appeals to me. That's about the longest I've gone.

Don't know if that helped at all.

Cheers!
 
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#3 ·
I do not like to go to the store...and I wait till they have the best sales and shop then..esp...meat I don't menu plan per say but I have a general idea of what we are having for the month..I buy my produce weekly on sale..for example: cuties, apples, sweet pots. and broccoli was in my menu plan...

I spend right at 400 a month this way including stockpiling. that does not include milk, bread, and produce... which is weekly....so I still spend over 500 a month...

I don't know if it is any cheaper or not....
 
#4 ·
I shop Aldis and Dollar General for most things and Kroger some. I do buy more of things I use if they are on sale however I dont coupon because I feel like Aldis prices are generally better here than using coupons. I am thinking less trips means less impulse buying for us. As for stockpiling I dont have enough space to go overboard with that but I do buy some stuff in bulk
 
#5 ·
We tried to shop once a month one time and failed! I thought I had planned the trip well and yet I still ended up at the store for this or that! It was a lot of work and I was exhausted from shopping and bringing it all in and putting it all away! Now I try to go every 2 weeks and that works best for us. I can sometimes squeeze another week in and go 3 weeks without shopping!
 
#6 ·
We've tried it, but do better with every week. We hit the sales at our local grocery that way. We're a family of nine and go through things pretty quickly especially since 4 of them are teens right now.

We were a smaller family, we could go longer between shopping trips.
 
#7 ·
I am positive that it is cheaper going weekly. the only way I would do monthly shopping is if I could find comparable prices in WalMart or somewhere like Sam's, but nobody can beat me being able to use coupon and bogo deals. I usually spend between $80 and $100 a week for 6 people and a few stray visiting cats.

HTHs

Theresa:)
 
#10 ·
I've always toyed with the idea of OAM shopping, but we need so much milk, I think it would go bad before we could use it. So, this would cause me to have to go back to the store and if I go back, I know I'd get more than just milk. So, I do the weekly shopping and control it with my list. I have friends who do OAM shopping and it works beautifully for them. I just know it wouldn't work for us. :(
 
#11 ·
I think this is a fantastic idea and we are almost there because I already stockpile. I also find myself trying to hold off on making a grocery run. I prefer to try to go once to the town about 30 minutes away, make a couple of stops, and get it all done at once.

Our biggest problem right now is storage. We don't have a freezer (although I vow to buy one soon!) We also need more shelving so I can organize the stockpile better.

I'll still need to go to the store for fresh produce. Milk isn't a huge problem because we buy organic or Lactaid milk which will last a month easy. I use powdered milk for regular cooking when needed. We don't consume a lot of milk anyway and have shelf-stable alternatives (almond, soy) in the house.

I plan our menu for the week so it would be just as easy to plan for a month. I could then adjust month-to-month if we don't use a meal or two because our plans changed.

My biggest challenges are (1) time and (2) availability. I typically grocery shop only while DD is in school and hubby is at work. I'd have to plan my trip carefully to make sure I'm home when DD gets off the bus. And in our rural area, some items are simply not available until a shipment arrives which makes it necessary that I make another trip to the store to finish buying my list. Even if everything is available, there is no one store in my area that carries everything I want to buy.
 
#12 ·
We are pretty much oam shoppers.

I spend about $200-$250 at Sams where the prices are basic and really set in stone. I get almost all my produce. DD makes smoothies so we are NOT afraid to buy our fruits and veggies in bulk because we will freeze them if needed. I get all my big bags of uncooked and precooked chicken breasts and breaded patties for fast sandwiches. I have a turbo oven from Sharper image that works great for these types of foods. I get 4 (18 egg packs) of eggs. 120 slices of cheese as well as the big bags of grated cheeses. I get the 2 pack of pomegrante cranberry juice for my dds and the butter and sour cream. I get TP and paper towels,I have plastic tubs on the patio to store excess paper goods to keep it out of the house but at my fingertips.I get the vinegar, baking soda, brown sugar,yeast etc.

Then we go to Super One (The rest of my 500 t0 600 budget) (my oldest dd is my helper) and get the rest. We use our coupons and I stockup the stock pile with sale items but ONLY sale items. If mayo is regular price I get 1. If it's on sale or I have coupons I may get 4. Depends on the item.

Now that dd is home I have very limited space so stockpiling is at 4 months and no longer a year.

It takes allllll day! We are a family of 4. dh eats for 3 lol.

I am about to remake all my master mixes so that will effect my shopping habits. I've gotten lazy. Time to fix that.
 
#14 ·
Dh and I discussed it more and thought about starting every 2 weeks but we are going to try for one time this month. The plan is to freeze milk and produce if needed. Never have frozen milk but i hear it works well. Im looking forward to the new year!
 
#33 ·
Once a month wouldn't work for me..........but if it can work for you...........GO FOR IT......anyway you can save money helps!

Never have frozen milk but i hear it works well. Im looking forward to the new year!
Try freezing just one gallon first, to see how you like it.

It does freeze well, but I am not a big fan of it........but will do it if a snow storm is coming through for multiple days. (so it is "tolerable") I do tend to keep one gallon in the freezer during the winter........and rotate it out every couple of weeks........just a weather related thing. No frozen milk in my freezer during the summer.

I use 2% and the fat separates and that first glass out of the container is like the "blue water" (skim)........then you have to remember to shake it before each use....the fat settles on the bottom of the carton/container. I am sure it would work better if you use 1% or even skim..............just not a big fan.........my own personal taste.
 
#15 ·
Steve and Anette Economides (America's cheapest family) wrote the book 'Cut your grocery bill in half' based on shopping once a month. You might get it at the library if you are interested in how they do it.

They shop once a month and they have a huge freezer. The do freeze milk, bread items, butter, cheese, baking supplies, meats, fruits and vegetables. They eat fresh foods at the beginning of the month and switch to frozen or canned when the fresh runs out.

She makes menus ahead of time and they do a full inventory of their pantry and freezer before they shop so they know what they need for the month. They also do OAMC too and they describe their method in the book.

It works for them, so even if you try shopping twice a month you would probably save money over shopping weekly or more often.

I'm going to try eating from my pantry and freezer in January and see how little money I can spend that month. I have a lot of food on hand and would like to have less on hand but more of what I normally eat. Some of the stuff I bought but isn't stuff I eat regularly.
 
#17 ·
I didn't buy ground beef this month and just ate beef from the deep freezer. I ran out but still have ground turkey and 2 roasts as well as TONS of assorted chicken.

I say take an inventory of the deep freezer, plan a few meals, and do a clearout so if you do decide to OAM shop you can put the old on top and the new on bottom. It just takes a few minutes and so worth the time.
 
#18 ·
We do once a month shopping here and have for a while. It saves us a ton :)

OAM shopping grocery total: $500
Shopping weekly each month total: $900

I have tips, meal plans, grocery lists, etc. all listed on my blog :) Here is one of the posts about it.... One Mama's Journey: Once a month shopping :)
 
#19 ·
I use to shop once a month for years. Hubby only got paid once a month (as he does now) and I was feeding a family of 6, if I did it more than once a month we would of ran out of money for food (something always comes up). I did put just enough a side for milk later in the month.

My budget was $350 a month for food, so I concentrated on breakfast and dinners mostly. Kids ate lunch at school and hubby ate lunch at work.

Now that it's just me and hubby, I make a menu out for 2 weeks and avoid going to the store otherwise as much a possible.
 
#20 ·
I've played with Shopping once a month now and then; what throws me off is we get paid every other week, so to do this I'm using that two week share to cover a whole month. I'm also paying for school lunches for two kids during the school year.. What I'm doing right now is shopping the sales, with an eye towards pantry building. I'll menu plan for a week or so, and shop by the sales ad to that end, with the plan being to leave enough wiggle room if the sale ad for the second week of the pay period is a block buster. Lately, it's been more like the first week's ad is a dud, so I'll use the meat in my freezer and pray for a better sale next week.
 
#21 ·
i dont get how you can buy fruit and fresh veggies a month in advance w/out them going bad...lettuce goes bad in 2 - 3 days....now, squash lasts, but what about beans, cucumbers
berries go bad fast....but are soo good for you and the kiddos.....
i wouldnt even attemt as we eat alot of fresh fruit and vegetables.
 
#22 ·
If you buy a head of lettuce it lasts longer than the bagged lettuce. I buy green or red leaf and it lasts a week or two. Apples and oranges last weeks if refrigerated but would take a lot of room in the fridge if you eat a lot.

The people who post about their successes with one a month purchasing use the fresh fruits and vegetables the first week or two. Then they switch to frozen or canned. If you eat only fresh food, it wouldn't work for you.
 
#24 ·
I have done the once a month cooking coupled w/ stockpiling. Once you get it going its easier but i still got dairy once in awhile before the month was up.
I precooked some meat to save time and room.
Going shopping once a month means you will eat fresh but also canned.
You will cook and have to be flexible about not having everything at your whim.
 
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